Sammy Jukes: Twin Lakes Review

 Sammy Jukes: Twin Lakes is a first-person open-world adventure game developed by Wamill. I’ve actually become very appreciative of games where you solve mysteries without the exciting moment-to-moment gameplay, which I’ve gotten used to over the years. I like taking notes and trying to figure out a puzzle that doesn’t give you a true answer until the end when you solve it.

Now, let's make this review sound a little more… appropriate.

(Please read this in a noir detective narration.)

On a rainy day, in the small town of Twin Lakes, a big city detective arrived. A protester, Tammy Taylor, has gone missing and Sammy Jukes is reluctantly sent on the case due to being the only person available with an average track record. Now, in this town where anyone could be a suspect, it’ll be your job to find the truth hidden under all the lies. It won't be easy: everyone has something to hide and maybe might not trust you, but no mystery should ever go cold as long as there's a lead to the culprit.

The mystery is actually fairly interesting to follow, requiring you to interview and investigate as much as you can to ensure you leave no stone unturned, it’s just that I had a few issues with the voice acting. While the acting itself was serviceable, the quality was shot to hell with some people. A bad microphone or a bad environment to record voice lines? I don't know. All I know is that I could hear some crackle and echo when they should've spoken as clearly.

The game began with… well, a laggy opening cutscene that the game could barely get through. I needed to restart the game several times, lowering my graphic settings with each reset. Even at the lowest settings, it was a struggle to keep at a consistent 30 FPS. It could be my computer, but I felt that something was wrong the moment I started this mystery, and I was afraid that things would only get worse from there.

Welcome to Twin Lakes.

Once in town, I got to work as soon as possible, starting with the few leads the local law enforcement could provide, who I didn’t trust 100% due to their blasé attitude to the disappearance. Almost instantly, I was told that there was no autosave, which left me the potential of losing a lot of progress on the case if I was too deep in. But on the flipside, I can see why there is no autosaving feature; it could be abused to get me out of a tough spot if needed, maybe even let me cheat if I had an answer that needed to change.

Twin Lakes itself is quite small and nothing special at a passing glance, where you can walk from one end to the other in only a few minutes, but is dense with evidence to find, tools to help in your investigation, and people to interrogate. You’re never too far from a problem or trouble, like a fire in the fire department or an angry wolf ready to bite. Everything has a reason to exist in this town, and it’s your job to untangle this web of tasks. You’ll get to know the town’s layout intimately as you will be running around a lot, going back and forth from location to location. There is fast travel in the form of street signs, so it does slightly cut down the tediousness. The arrow representing Jukes on the full map has the wrong rotation though, which can really screw with your sense of direction.

Everyone's either a suspect or a red herring. Better fish them out.

The first thing I did was track down locals and get everything I could from them. You have a variety of questions to ask your interviewee, and they usually have a unique response to many of them. Some useful, while others might be red herrings. Ask them the right question and it could lead to more questions being unlocked to ask other locals. But not everything can be found through dialogue. Sometimes, you’ll need to go through a few of their things before you can crack them wide open. If you want to search a person’s home and business, you can’t just break in, like in some other detective games. You play by the book, and that means you will either need to get permission from the owner themselves or you have enough of a reason to get a search warrant from the deputy.

The townsfolk of Twin Lakes are a quirky bunch, each with their own stories and lives, although for the game they just sort of stay where they are, staring blankly into an unseen, unending void until you arrive to interrogate them. We have creepy stalkers, grumpy farmers, annoying activists, terrible authority figures, drug dealers, and even the worst scum of the earth: influencers. Many of them also like to swear like sailors in the middle of the sea. I quite liked their style and personalities, even the ones that made you hate them a little for making you go on a massive goose chase.

Chickens, foxes, pigs, and wolves. There's some sort of metaphor here.

Soon after I started my playthrough, I grabbed my nearest notepad and began writing down everything I could about the townsfolk and key events like the oil pipeline project. However, it was all for nothing, as the game automatically took down everything you needed to know about a person. Their occupation, their job, and where they lived, it was only the important bits that would factor into the investigation. It was a little disheartening, as I did my best to take notes and it really would’ve made me feel more like a detective, but probably made things easier in the long run.

Actually, your natural detective sense makes key items sparkle a little obnoxiously, sometimes obscuring whatever the heck I'm putting into my inventory, as well as doors I could open even if I didn’t have the warrant yet. Only Jukes knew what it was, voicing every single thing he picked up and its use. Also, I tended to hear investigation music when I was somewhere that had something important. If you ever get stuck, though, the dog that hangs out in front of the police station can give you a helpful hint that might kick you in the right direction. You can also praise them and let them follow you throughout the town. It was nice, but I felt some hints were a little too vague to be helpful. I did eventually resort to a guide to help me with a few parts, but if I wasn’t so impatient I could've solved the case without too much help.

Good boy.

Sammy Jukes: Twin Lakes is a fine time overall. The mystery can be intriguing to solve, with a variety of quirky characters that could lead you to the culprit or astray with nonsense. Don’t expect the next L.A. Noire, but it’s a nice and cosy mystery to solve on a rainy day.